Uzumaki Haruto was happy. If all went well, which was quite likely given the circumstances, his chaotic double life could be straightened out by this time next week; not years, months, or even weeks, but days!
The twelve-year-old knew what he was capable of. Once he was able to unleash his abilities without restriction, the blond had every confidence that he would succeed in achieving even his loftiest goals.
Youngest Hokage in history. Haruto smiled faintly at the thought, but only for a moment. It wouldn't do for him to start counting chickens before the eggs hatched. Plus, the Sandaime still ruled very capably and the young ANBU would sooner die than betray his leader in any way.
Still, Haruto was happy; so happy that he forwent his Genji disguise as he walked down the street. The cold, apathetic glances and the occasional looks of hostility quickly reduced his good cheer. The jinchuuriki ducked into an alley and took to traveling on the roofs of the village. Okay, so maybe Genji's success and fame had spoiled him a little. But who could begrudge him for favoring respect and admiration over scorn and indifference.
A short while later, Haruto arrived at his destination, Training Field 14. He was about to transform into his Genji persona when a voice called out to him.
"Haruto, good to see you. Come over and give me a hand with the vice captain."
"Tenzou-sensei!" Haruto ran over to his captain. "What's wrong with Yuugao-senpai?"
The young shinobi looked over and was shocked at his normally demure and reticent mentor's behavior. For one, she was obviously drunk based on the way she swayed unsteadily back and forth. And for another, Yuugao was shooting her colleagues sexy, flirtatious grins.
"Hey, Haru-chan, how about a threeso—" Haruto blinked as Yuugao tried to put the moves on both him and Captain Tenzou only to break out in a fit of hiccups.
"She's drunk! How did that happen?"
Tenzou lifted his arms and pointed at the empty bottles of high-proof sake and the pieces of broken weapons. "Hayate's death hit her harder than any of us had expected. Anko apparently brought her some alcohol to settle her mind. You can see how well that worked. Yuugao also put two rookie ANBU operatives in the hospital while intoxicated." That explained the weapons lying about.
"Don't tell me, she challenged them to a kenjutsu duel and they accepted?"
"What do you think?"
Haruto shook his head. A drunken Yuugao wielding a ninjaken could not have been good for her opponents' health. His mind backtracked to Tenzou's mentioning of the woman who had brought the alcohol.
So she's alright, Haruto thought with relief, remembering her encounter with Orochimaru during the exam. He rather liked the provocative exam proctor, despite her peculiar and somewhat freaky behavior. Plus, she reminded him a bit about himself.
"Listen, Haruto, I have some affairs to take care of. So I need you to look after the vice captain."
"Wait a minute, Captain! You can't leave me here alone with her!" Haruto screeched but to no avail. His oh-so-courageous leader had already made himself scarce.
Damn it! Why is all this shit happening on the same day! And why is everyone around me acting so cowardly! Haruto was left fuming as Yuugao suddenly attached herself to his body. The young shinobi whimpered as his drunken and half delirious sensei proceeded to glomp him like he was an extra soft plush doll. Oh, I'm so dead!
"Senpai? Are you still with me?" Haruto whispered.
"I'm with you, Haru-chan! I'll always be with you!" the drunken woman giggled in a singsong voice. The younger shinobi tried his best to block out his mentor's words. Yep, the woman was smashed, all right.
The blond sighed again as he pondered how to get his sensei home with minimal fuss. Yuugao was not fat, but she was a grown woman, whereas he was only a twelve-year-old boy. The logistics of the whole affair were problematic. And then there was a more pressing concern.
"Did you sense that?"
"Yeah, someone's watching us," Yuugao slurred in a whisper. Apparently, her state of inebriation did nothing to diminish her carefully honed senses. Unfortunately, her compromised state of mind made her all but useless in a fight. Not that it mattered. Haruto had a good idea who was watching and he was certain he could handle them. But before he could find a place to set Yuugao down, the shadow of the mysterious watcher fell over them.
"Are you Uzumaki Haruto?"
"So what if I am?"
"Good, I've been looking for you all over the place," the stranger stated.
"Ok, so what do you want?" Haruto asked, feigning curiosity.
The figure clad almost completely in black smiled, "How about your head?"
Expecting the reply, Haruto was already rolling away with Yuugao under the cover of a solid wall of clones. He left his incapacitated sensei in the care of one before joining the battle. Finding his two dozen clones being slowly beaten back by half a dozen puppets, the Konoha prodigy realized his enemy was Kankurou, the eldest son of the Yondaime Kazekage. But the Suna genin was curiously alone. Haruto took this to mean one of two things.
Either he's the demon container and confident of victory or he's a glory seeking fool. One minute into the fight, Haruto was leaning towards the latter possibility. The Suna genin fought without finesse and all his attacks were reactive. However, his puppets were stronger and tougher than Haruto's clones, and cost little chakra to maintain.
Time to get serious. Haruto needed to quickly end the fight lest they attract unwanted attention. While Training Field 14 was one of the more out-of-the-way practice grounds, the sort people went to when they didn't want to be found, he wasn't about to take any chances.
"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
The diminishing group of blonds instantly mushroomed with the influx of added clones. For the first time, the Suna genin wondered if he might have bitten off more than he could chew. Perhaps he shouldn't have allowed his pride and simmering indignation at being surpassed by his siblings to dictate his actions?
Haruto did not hesitate to press home his advantage. His clones concentrated on Kankurou's flanks, forcing the puppet user to spread out his puppets until only a single defender stood in front of him. The Konoha jounin struck with a lightning quick combo that knocked it out of action. A split second later, he was in Kankurou's face with a kunai buried in his heart.
Or at least the kunai was supposed to be buried in the Suna genin's heart. Haruto knew something had gone horribly wrong when the dead ninja refused to drop to the ground.
Aw, fuck! Haruto thought, mentally kicking himself for falling for such an obvious trick. Only his perfect execution of the Shunshin saved him from being blown into bits as the Kankurou puppet self-destructed. Even so the young jounin was sufficiently injured and dazed for his enemy to seize the initiative.
Kankurou unsealed the entirety of his collection and unleashed them against the mass of orange. His puppets, which included several high-ranked ninja, began massacring his opponent's clones. Eventually, all the clones were destroyed and two of Kankurou's puppets pinned Haruto to the ground.
"You're a pretty special shinobi Haruto, and definitely no ordinary genin. But I'm Kankurou of Sunagakure, the student of Akasuna no Sasori. Your defeat was inevitable," the Suna genin declared theatrically. He then commanded a third puppet to deliver the coup de grace and left his victim's bloody body on the ground.
Kankurou was about to reseal his puppets when a moan spooked him. He had forgotten about the woman. The Suna shinobi cautiously approached the female companion of the late Uzumaki Haruto, twitching his nose at the stink of alcohol. The Suna genin hoisted her up and sighed when the giggly drunk leaned against him. He really hated doing this, especially to such a beautiful creature, but he simply could not afford to leave any witnesses behind.
"I'm sorry, but I'm only doing my job," Kankurou muttered by way of self-vindication as he withdrew a kunai. He never expected a response.
"So am I." The erstwhile drunk rammed a kunai straight into the Suna nin's heart. The dead Kankurou fell to the ground while wearing an expression of absolute befuddlement.
Poor bastard, he never saw it coming.
The previously very drunk and very female Yuugao suddenly transformed into a very sober and very male Haruto. He immediately sent several clones to retrieve the real Yuugao from the place where he had hidden her prior to Kankurou's appearance. Then he turned his attention toward his assassin.
"Only idiots talk that much in the middle of a battle," Haruto muttered. A fitting epitaph for a capable but unimaginative ninja. The Suna genin's words, however, did contain a tantalizing morsel of information.
Akasuna no Sasori. From what Haruto knew, random second-rate ninja didn't get special titles added to their names. So who was this guy?